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may command so low a rent that, to make up the interest on the whole tenement, excessive rents must be charged for the upper floors. In trying to arrive at the lowest rent which might be charged for upper floor flats it is essential to allow for a shop rent which has every reasonable hope of materialising.
For 500 houses, chosen haphazard amongst the congested areas of Victoria and Kowloon, it was found that for those in Kowloon, average rent was $40 per month, the highest being $96 and the lowest $16. Very few however were below $20, the main variations lying between $20 and $50. For new development therefore a rent of $20 per month for a shop was taken as the initial rent, with the possibility of a rise up to $50 per month when the development reaches maturity.
77. In Paragraph 30 it was mentioned that, in Kowloon, the majority of houses were only three stories high but, for most streets, greater heights were per- missible and from that it was decided that three stories was the desirable maximum height. In the congested areas the ground floor is normally a shop or workshop. In Appendix V are the B.0.0. returns for the Blue Book of 1937 which show that in Victoria and Kowloon there are 75,757 floors and 23,075 houses, an average of 3.27 floors per house. How many houses have ground floor shops is not known but 75% seems to be a fair assumption. There are therefore approximately 17,300 shops to 58.500 flats or 2 shops to 7 flats. Many of these shops are really workshops which, in course of time, will probably have to give way to factories. For new development therefore it would be advisable to reduce the proportion of shops to flats and 2:10 is suggested as reasonable. The reduction of population density in new development may mean less total spending power, but low rents and a reduced number of shops may restore the turnover to its present level per shop.
78 In the congested areas not only are houses overcrowded but the areas themselves are overdeveloped, with too many houses per acre. Reduction in the number of houses and elimination of overcrowding will obviously result in a number of people being forced to find accommodation elsewhere. According to the 1931 Census Report, there were then some 270 acres with an average population density of 1,000 per acre. If the density be only reduced to an average of 600 per acre (a figure higher than in the worst slums in England) over 100,000 would have to find accommodation elsewhere and, for these, about 4,000-8,000 houses would be re- quired, varying according to the number of floors per house. Unless this surplus is to be turned into the streets that accommodation must be found for them before slum clearance can be carried out. If 500 houses per year be erected at an annual cost of $2,000,000 slum clearance operations would have to be extended over a period of 8-16 years.
79. It would be quite useless to erect these new houses, unless work for the tenants could be provided in the neighbourhood. The rate at which this work could be provided would naturally affect the rate of new house building and, with it, the rate of slum clearance, but what that rate will be it is not possible to state.
80. If the policy of erecting low rented houses elsewhere can be followed, then, not only the extent, but the quality of the means of livelihood available near the new settlements will have a bearing on the slum clearance question. It has been implied that, if factories could be attracted to new areas, and houses were provided, workers would also be attracted there; but factories for the most part employ people of Class B type (see Paragraph 21). The process of development itself will call for people of all classes, but mainly Class B and the unskilled casual labourers of Class C. If the new developments themselves are eventually to be extensive they will take many years to complete and will provide almost permanent employment for a fairly large number of both these classes. The developments. themselves will, sooner or later, attract the owners of shops and small workshops. If it be possible to ensure that the majority of these new residents come from slum areas, there will possibly be a reduction in the population density in these areas. It is probable that for the most part those leaving the slums will consist of Class B people. The remainder in the slums will therefore have a greater proportion of Class C and, with the present type of tenement, unless rents are considerably reduced, will still overcrowd into a few tenements and leave the rest empty. The total of achievement will, under these circumstances be the provision of better and healthier quarters for